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I can’t believe it’s already 2012. I’m a year older and I think a year wiser (I hope!)
I stopped doing New Year’s Resolutions a while back so I won’t bother deciding things I can’t (or won’t) keep.
2011 flew by, literally. It seems the older we get, the faster time passes by. I’m halfway to 50 already Yikes!
I think I had a good 2011, didn’t repeat old mistakes, made new ones, but all in all nothing too bad~

Here’s to 2012! (a list)

Be a good person

Make lots of money (lots is relative I know 😉 )

Drink less alcohol

Get in shape (I’ve lost considerable weight since coming to Korea, now it’s time to make some muscles!)

Have a good time

Find my path in life (i.e. a career path or what the heck I’m gonna do from now on)

Love, Trust, Believe

That’s all I can think of currently. I’m beginning 2012 a bit different than I did 2011. Apparently 2012 is the year of the Dragon (to be specific ‘Gold Dragon’) I wonder what the Dragon has in store for me this year?

I need to get my job situation sorted out…

Happy 2012 World!

Cheers to my friends Joe and David for coming to visit me~I know it wasn’t easy…for all of us hahaha.

Granted there are other people who also have December birthdays but this is my blog and so i’ll be a little self-centered here~

Anyways, I really think I have a knack for meeting and making good people and friends. Compared to my situation last year in ‘utmost boonieville’ the way I made friends isn’t all that much different. For example, I befriended good people at work (ie school) and at the gym. I guess it may be due to the fact that there’s a National University here that there are more people near my age range who I can get familiar with. Maybe it’s just a numbers game (?) Be that as it may I gathered a few of my friends I made this year and began my night~

I’m not the best event planner I just try to keep things simple but even then there can be some snags…I told my friends to meet me up for dinner at 6:30. Everyone showed up around 7…I guess that’s ‘Korean’ time for you or is it Asian time? I was a bit peeved that these guys would show up late but what can I do when their excuse was ‘to get my cake?’ I forgave them and we had dinner. After dinner we took the cake and went to a nearby coffee shop of my choosing. Lo and behold there was a special room just for ME. (I am kidding, apparently it’s a room used for special events ie birthdays)

My friends sang a wonderful tune of “Happy Birthday” first in English and the parts that they didn’t know they continued in Korean! lol 😀 Oh and the friends I invited to dinner were Tiger, Sean, and uh Jaguar (he’s basically our chauffeur). Now since everyone present was a ‘health guy’ (health in this case means fitness center) we only shared 1 bottle of beer amongst ourselves. The REAL party (ie drinking) would begin much later hah ha h..I think this was the first time I had ever experienced a birthday party with a cake and friends singing for me since like…ever? I won’t go into the details but yeah…most definitely the first time in Korea!

I had a friend from Seoul come visit me too. We’ll call him Dandy and I met him through Tiger, they are neighborhood buds since from ever~ Dandy started the drinking festivities by making me a ‘birthday shot.’ The only time I had ever experienced a ‘birthday’ shot was on my 21st bday way back in Austin, Texas. It was pretty awful tasting but it sure got me drunk quick. I was in no way prepared for what was coming up. The alcohol choices in our drinking place weren’t too varied and so Dandy had to improvise, Korean-style. I won’t go into detail but there was an awful lot of mixing of various things and not all of it was alcohol…

My head was banging the rest of the night, I hadn’t drank so much alcohol I think all year! Ah well, it was my special One day of the year so I’ll be alright. My birthday fell on a Friday this year and in the Korean mispronunciation it sounds like ‘Fly’ day. Time wasn’t the only thing flying that day thats FOR SURE.

Here are some pics. Jaguar wasn’t looking very presentable but what’s new? I was a bright red tomato all night and I didn’t give a fock hehe. Saturday was spent with a special person. Sunday I am busy recovering for the workweek ahead~

It’s already the end of November and suffice it to say that I haven’t done much. Either that or I’ve done things that can’t be shared with the interworld aka you guys 😉

I’m doing pretty well. Thanksgiving passed without much incident (well, they don’t really celebrate it here in Korea so…)I just got me some chicken ‘burger’ from McDonalds and had a few drinks with a friend (my friend didn’t drink b/c he’s a sensible driver!) Oh I’d like to mention 11.11.11 aka Pepero Day aka ‘once in a millenium day!’

That is all..there I mentioned it, hah hah

I got back into going to the gym again, it’s become a part of my weekly, and weekDAY schedule. My goal as mentioned previous is just to ‘lose fat’ and so yeah, hopefully becoming stronger, healthier, more lean will be a nice side effect 🙂 On a related note: I feel like I go to sleep much better and sleep more soundly after I work out. This good feeling is kind of addicting! hehe

I’ve been growing out my mustache this month of Movember, now that November is coming to an end, I will go back to being clean-shaved. I’ll share the pics right before I shave (which isn’t gonna be today) so yall will just have to wait!

My birthday is coming up soon, I’m mentioning this now because I may or may not write about what I do on my birthday (aka maybe more top-secret, ninja stuff will go down~) I’m sure my birthday will also pass without incident, although I may/possibly/get drunk? 😀

Well this weekend was super-packed and eventful. Friday-Sunday just flew by! To recap on Friday, I had planned on just chilling at home when my friend Jaguar invited me to go to his home in Ilsan (I guess this would be a ‘suburb’ outside of Seoul). I deliberated a bit and then decided to go. What a good choice I made! Ilsan is a quite lively place! Friday night I was feeling a bit ‘down’ and I wanted to get drunk (or just enjoy some drinks). Now Jaguar, being the health-freak (I’m using ‘health’ in the Korean definition in this case ‘fitness’) does NOT drink. But, being the pal he is he said he would provide me company and drink ONE beer while I got plastered (haha jk~) We went to a bar that Jaguar knew called ‘Siesta.’ Interesting name for an interesting bar. The interior struck me as being pretty high-class and the prices for drinks only confirmed it. On a side note; we also got a really cute/hot/attractive barkeep to keep us company! I was never so nervous as I was that night in a bar that’s for sure~~Anyways we had our drinks (Jaguar kept a good 1:4 ratio with me, he only had like half a beer…) and I had a great time. (Maybe it was due to there being an attractive girl at the bar but I wasn’t getting drunk that night AND I didn’t give a damn! :D)

We ended up back at Jag’s place around 5am and stealthily sneaked into his home because as Jaguar puts it “My father does not like to have his sleep interrupted..” I nodded along and quickly got into my ‘shinobi-mode’ and went to sleep. The next morning I was introduced to Jag’s mom. She is quite the tall lady (or I’m just short 😦 ) We had a GREAT late lunch with various side dishes I won’t even begin to try to name but trust me they were good OH and we had really good Honeydew melon and grapes (The melon was seriously seriously tasted like honey, OMG I wanna eat it againnn *wipes drool*)

Jag had to get a haircut and so we went back to ‘downtown’ Ilsan, a place called “La Festa” (Notice the Spanish usage here? Yeah, very good I know 🙂 It was so PACKED full of people and lots and lots of let’s just say..eye candy heh heh. (but gdamn these girls are TALL!! what the heck do they EAT??) I accompanied Jag while he got his hair done at ‘Juno Hair’ (a popular and EXPENSIVE hair franchise in Korea) afterwards I had to bounce because I had to attend my friend Justin’s bday party extravabananza in Apgujeong. On the subway to Apgujeong (it’s on the same line as Ilsan!) I took some ‘secret stuff’ to help me better deal with the amount of alcohol I knew I would have to drink and thought happy thoughts about the possible ‘eye candy’ in Apgujeong. You see, Apgujeong apparently is where all the ‘rich’ folks and couples go to ‘play’ aka hang out. Also the best plastic surgeons in Korea reside here and so uh well, I’m sure their clients come here too 😉 *wink wink. At last I made it to Apgujeong but maybe because either a) It was still too early in the night or b) It was too late in the day that I didn’t see as much eye candy as I had hoped. Ah well, better luck next time~

I attended Justin’s birthday get together and I got drunk. The end.

Hahaha got you! 😛 I ended up staying up all night to catch the first subway back to my town which I thought was at 5am but instead on Sundays its at 5:40, but then once I got ON the sub didn’t take off until 5:45. WTF!!! I was supremely tired when I got into bed around 7:30am…I slept until I heard my phone ring around noon and it was my dad telling me that he was on his way. I proceeded to get up, drink some water, and fell right back to sleep until 1:30 when my phone rang again…

Finally after almost 2 years I met my dad again. He hadn’t changed much except his hair was unnaturally black, I commented on this and yes he told me he had started dying it black. (I remember him having a some white hairs back in Texas) My dad was accompanied by his old friend and high school classmate Jung Ui Taek 정의택. Mr. Jung told me he and my dad were basically like ‘brothers’ and so that made Mr. Jung basically my ‘uncle’ aka 삼촌 (sahm chon) heh.

We talked the usual yakity yak and then proceeded to Soyang Dam which is pretty damn big (hehe don’t mind me~)
Here’s a picture for your viewing pleasure

Damn big dam!

After that we had a late lunch/early dinner of my town’s specialty 닭길비 aka chicken galbi (ribs) and 막국수 (noodles). After getting some food (I was effing starving!) we headed to a scenic coffee shop called Santorini on the nearby Gubong-san (san means mountain). Santorini has in my opinion, the best view of my city. You can clearly see the building and such landscape from here. Oh here’s another picture…

You can see the city in the background, it looks even better even later!

I apologize for my poor state of fashion-ness. I didn’t get much sleep, hadn’t showered and was in a rush today.

Meeting a new ‘Uncle’ was a pleasant experience as well. He’s an interesting dude and he told me interesting things about my dad in his younger years. While I always respected my dad, that respect was tied to the fear I had of him. Now, the fear is gone and only the respect remains. Oh and apparently my father was quite ‘popular with the ladies’ back in the day, heh I respect that (highly!).

I didn’t get to spend much time with dad today but it was short and sweet and not at all unpleasant (well getting up was unpleasant though hah). I hope my dad makes a full recovery and enjoys the rest of his stay in Korea. He tells me that he would like to live in Korea someday and while the old ‘me’ would have shuddered at the thought; I’m now quite nonchalant about the matter. It would be nice for him to get back to his roots and meet up his old friends and etc. I guess I’ve grown up a bit (not physically though 😉 )

That’s all folks~hope you enjoyed reading my blog as much I enjoyed writing it!!

So it’s October now. I’m not normally a baseball fan but my hometown Texas Rangers are in the World Series! WOOT! The NBA is in a lockout unfortunately and the Dallas Cowboys are doing pretty poorly so Yay go Rangers!!

That’s all I’ll touch on with sports.

This post will be more rambling from me as I only have about 10 minutes to write it.

It’s almost 0 degrees C these days, I’m damn cold!

I’m still nervous around girls.

I am eagerly awaiting my paycheck..

I need to go shopping for clothes…

Tuesdays are my worst day at work, 1st graders are so hard to deal with!

(related) if I don’t have a crappy Monday, then Tuesday will come back to bite me.

Started hitting the gym again, put in a good 45 mins, my body is not liking me this morning…

I am still too sensitive about things.

Started reading again although it is an e-book.

My Korean language ability goes up and down depending on my mood.

I don’t like ‘fake’ people but I think I’m becoming ‘faker’ everyday.

I need to set some goals…

I am awkward and weird and maybe a bit pushy.

My mood fluctuates throughout the day.

I don’t want/need your pity.

Alcohol is good in small doses. Although going on a binge is sometimes called for~

Hello dear peoples. I don’t have anything in particular to share with yall and so after almost a YEAR I’ll be showing off my cruddy writing skills again haha, you have been warned…

*DISCLAIMER: This story is fiction. Any names of real characters, places, and organizations in the story are purely coincidental.*

Andre was now a High School student. Maybe it was due to his ethnic background but Andre had a quiet personality. He made friends easily but only a few would remain as he transitioned into High School. It wasn’t until 12th grade or so that puberty finally caught up to Andre and he began to notice girls in a different way. Actually it was more like societal circumstance that forced this change in Andre. 12th grade is an important time in one’s school life, getting ready for university or just graduating period. However, the highlight of 12th grade could be said to be Prom. Ah, prom, a social butterfly’s worst nightmare come true. Andre had made some new friends in Middle School, his best friend Preston had moved to another state due to his father’s changing jobs. Andre’s new close friends were two; Dimitry and Johan. Dimitry and Johan were also sons of immigrants and bonded with Andre quickly. Dimitry was quiet like Andre but had a sharp intellect and wit. There were countless times when Andre would say something only to be rebutted (read:corrected) by Dimitry. It was all in good fun and Andre really appreciated Dimitry’s honesty and blunt nature. Johan on the other hand was quite the talented troublemaker. Johan had a passion for sports and entertainment and helped introduce to his friends the sport of Basketball. The three of them would play basketball almost weekly and each gradually improving over time. Now, Dimitry being the shy guy he is decided against going to Prom believing it to be a waste of time and money. Johan however, was one to never shy away from such venues that included dancing. Johan decided to go and thus it was Andre’s time to decide. Andre had heard stories about Prom, about fancy suits and limousines and a beautiful girl to take as a date. Andre had yet to experience anything close to a relationship thus far, the closest thing would probably have been his respect and admiration for Miss Catalano back in Elementary school. As luck would have it though, in his senior year Andre decided to take an ‘easy course’ called P.E. Foundations. This course was required but somehow Andre had forgotten to take it until his senior year. One day while studiously listening to his teacher, something hit Andre in the back of the head. It was a rolled up paper note containing nothing but one question: “Are you going to Prom?” Andre looked around him but couldn’t tell who threw the paper. In his mind, he was hoping it was from a girl 🙂 The bell rang and class ended when someone tapped Andre’s shoulder. Lo and behold it was the junior Lucy, a popular girl who many guys would have loved to take to Prom. Andre asked what was up and Lucy replied: “I threw the note at you.” Andre was surprised, to have Lucy talking to him out of the blue, was something unimaginable. Andre replied that he had yet to decide when suddenly Lucy wondered if she could be his date! Not thinking anything other than the fact that this popular girl was asking him to Prom Andre quickly agreed to go. (his hormones were raging) Only later on would Andre realize the severity of his choice…

(fast forward after Prom)

Prom was a disaster. Dimitry was completely right when he said it was a waste of both time and money. Andre had no idea how much he would have to spend for Prom and that basically the guy pays for practically everything for his date. All that money spent and for what!? To be ditched by his date as soon as they entered the dance hall and see her having a good time and flirting with other seniors? Andre was glad Johan had gone to Prom because then he had someone to talk to and enjoy some drinks. After the events of Prom, Andre would begin to distrust girls. It turns out that Lucy wanted to get back at her boyfriend who didn’t want to take her to prom and so poor Andre was just used and tossed away..

(fast forward to University)

Andre had graduated high school and had decided to go to university, much to his parents’ delight. Andre only applied to the local state university but it was located quite a ways from his hometown. Johan and Dimitry both decided on the nearby university and it pained Andre to have to leave his friends. 4 years flew by and Andre was facing a quarter life crisis (He was 25). The economy looked bleak and Andre didn’t do spectacular back in school. One day he received a letter from one of his classmates from university. Within that letter lied an opportunity that Andre couldn’t pass up.

Thus ends Part II.

I won’t give an estimate on when I’ll write the next part, don’t get your hopes up though haha it could be another few months away…

So I would like to share some of the things I’ve learned in my life and probably realized I knew these things while being here in Korea.

Classical Music is good in small doses, too much can be sensory overload.

They say that washing your face with cold water is better for your skin. Now I don’t know the science but here’s my thinking on this reasoning. Warm water opens up your pores, cold will do the opposite. Therefore you wash with cold water to make sure your pores stay shut while rinsing off the gunk on your face.